APS Student Caucus

Student Research Award Addresses

The Student Research Award is given annually to recognize outstanding research conducted by APS Student Affiliates. The program will feature addresses from the four winners of the 2011 competition, who were selected through a peer-review process. These award winning posters will also be presented during Poster Session IX, Saturday, May 28, 2011 in the Columbia Hall - Events Area.

Children Prefer Peers Who Share Their BeliefsLarisa HeiphetzHarvard UniversityIn two studies on belief-based preference, 6-9-year-old children reported preferences for religious in-group members and for peers who shared their religious, factual, and preference-based beliefs. These experiments demonstrate preferential treatment in children when others differ in mental states rather than perceptual cues.

Co-Author:Elizabeth S. Spelke, Harvard University

Co-Author:Mahzarin R. Banaji, Harvard University

Training the Emotional Brain: Transferable Effects and Neural Substrates of Affective Brain TrainingSusanne SchweizerMedical Research Council, United KingdomOur experiments show that brain-training (dual n-back task) leads to significant gains in training performance and untrained measures of working memory, fluid intelligence, and attentional control of emotion. Training gains are associated with increased cingulate and decreased inferior parietal cortex activation. Brain-training could be applied to educational and clinical settings.